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Lawyers representing cattle, consumer and health interests urged a federal judge Tuesday to stop imports of older Canadian cattle because of the potential threat of mad cow disease.
An attorney for the government countered that U.S. District Judge Lawrence Piersol should not grant the preliminary injunction, saying rules and changes in the industry adequately protect American animals, people and markets.
The lawsuit, filed last fall in federal court in South Dakota, seeks to suspend a U.S. Department of Agriculture rule that went into effect Nov. 19 allowing Canadian cattle more than 30 months old into the U.S. market.
According to the lawsuit, the change exposes consumers to a fatal disease linked to eating meat contaminated with bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE, increases the risk that U.S. cattle would be infected with the disease, and could harm the U.S. cattle market.
BSE is the scientific term for what's known as mad cow disease.
Eating meat with infected tissue is linked to a rare, fatal illness - variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease - that has killed more than 150 people worldwide, most of them in Britain.
The lawsuit was filed by Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund, or R-CALF; United Stockgrowers of America, based in Billings, Mont.; South Dakota Stockgrowers Association; four South Dakota cattle ranchers; the Center for Food Safety; the Consumer Federation of America; the Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Foundation; and Food & Water Watch.
Russell Frye, one of the lawyers for the plaintiffs, said BSE can incubate in humans for years, so even though changes have been made to protect against it, allowing older cattle into the market increases the chance it can be introduced into American herds.
Lisa Olson, a U.S. Justice Department lawyer, said there's no way to get 100 percent compliance with any rule.
She said, "All we can do is redouble our efforts to enforce
these regulations."
Olson said, "USDA isn't afraid to close the borders when necessary. It did that in May 2003 with the discover of the BSE case."
That discovery of an Alberta cow with mad cow disease prompted the United States to close all imports from Canada.
The border between the trade partners reopened for Canadian beef from younger cattle within months of the ban. Live cattle under the age of 30 months have been allowed to move across the border since July 2005. That rule was expanded to older cattle last fall.
The U.S. has had three cases of mad cow disease. The first, in December 2003 in Washington state, was in a cow that had been imported from Canada. The second, in 2005, was in a Texas-born cow. The third was confirmed last year in an Alabama cow. There have been 12 cases of mad cow disease in Canada and one other there involving an imported animal.
Since the USDA rule was relaxed in November, older cattle are being imported at the estimated rate of 175,000 a year - more than twice USDA's estimate, Bill Bullard, R-CALF chief executive officer, told The Associated Press during a break in Tuesday's hearing.
Besides the health concerns, cattlemen worry that cheap Canadian beef will depress domestic prices, reduce exports to countries with tougher standards and steer consumers away from beef.
Bullard said, "This could truly be devastating to the industry.”
Olson said when the border closed in 2003, American demand for beef actually increased, and health concerns trump financial worries.
Specifically, the lawsuit argues that the new rule is arbitrary in that it is inconsistent with facts. The USDA also exceeded its legal authority and failed to follow proper procedures in adopting the rule, the lawsuit said.
Olson denied both points.
Piersol asked for more written arguments from the lawyers before he makes his decision. He indicated he has options other than a strict granting or rejecting of an injunction that could include requiring USDA to rewrite its rules.
© Copyright 2006 by North Cascades Broadcasting, Inc
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